Sagitar

The first one looks like a Bond minicar - haven't seen one of those in a long time . . . B)

I certainly cleared it with mine and they sent me an amended schedule. There was no extra charge, but since the change reduces the chance of an accident there should if anything be a reduction in the premium. Fat chance?

Sounds like you have tyre pressure monitoring and are not removing the caps for long periods. I check mine manually once a week and have been using the same set for four years without any problems.

You are a long way out of date Gunther! Mine (Continental Winter Contact TS830) are little if any noisier than the Michelin summer tyres fitted as original equipment. I don't know what you mean by "general limitations". It was the inability to get anywhere in the snow last winter that caused me to change my arrangements for this year - it certainly doesn't feel like 30 years ago. In any case, modern winter tyres are not only for use on snow and ice. They give better road holding performance than summer tyres on both dry and wet roads at temperatures below 7C. Their wear characteristics are not as good as summer tyres if used at temperatures above 7C, but I will be taking mine off at the end of March. The manufacturers quote a five year life for the elastomers in the tyre if they are unused. I will be happy if I get three years from them. Buying a spare set of wheels is certainly an additional capital cost, but in the long term the extra tyre cost is very marginal since wear will be spread over eight tyres rather than four. People will have to make up their own minds whether the extra expenditure is worthwhile. I am driving to and from my home without any significant difficulty at present. Having just helped my neighbour to push his stranded BMW 318 up the Close and onto his drive, I think (for me) it was money well spent.

why not? Why not indeed? I have them on - in the UK and they are entirely practical as far as I can see.

Whs. Unless you are prepared to take the chains off every time you come to a patch of bare tarmac - then put them back on when you come to some snow, they are not much use. In a journey of about twelve miles last friday I would have had to change them seven or eight times - at the side of a narrow country road, with snow on the verges. No thanks. I prefer a spare set of wheels with a change to the winter set in November and back to the summer ones at the end of March.

One of my best cars ever on snow was a Citroen Light 15. Mind it was my first front wheel drive and such a revelation compared with other cars around at the time - that was the late 1950's.

On snow and ice I have found them to be excellent by my standards, but I have nothing with which to make a comparison. Mine are 15" 195/65 and on a front wheel drive car with a lot less power than the IS250, so your experience may be different. I have also driven them at up to 70 m.p.h. on tarmac at temperatures between 0 and 4 degrees C and found them to be very good indeed. I have not yet done enough miles on them to make any estimate of wear.

I put on the spinning ones that need a key to take off. Fingers crossed, but I haven't lost one in four years.

There are plenty of winter tyres available, but my experience of buying them is that they come in a limited range of sizes and only in higher profiles. I suspect that is deliberate and related to perfomance. The Conti T830s that I bought were (AFAIK) only available in 15" or 16" and for me that meant new wheels as well as new tyres. I am not unhappy about that because it makes them easier to exchange back when the weather gets warmer, but I can see why someone with 17"+ wheels might say there is nothing available for his wheels.

That's interesting. Were there any limitations on use if you had to use different tyre sizes on the same axle following e.g. a puncture? From what I recall, it was suggested to not exceed 50mph. The Series 1 GS 300 Sport with optional 10" rears had an alloy 8" rim as a spare but it had its own wheelnuts with a different taper to enable it to be fitted to front or rear. Mine didn't have these nuts so Lexus Coventry ordered them for me....FOC since I had purchased the car from them. I actually mentioned it to my insurers who were unconcerned as they were a genuine Lexus fitment. That is still helpful. It reduces the odds that you will have to drive in a restricted way, as compared with the spacesaver . . . . . :)

Still only about 85% of the torque and the horsepower of the IS 250 auto? I believe the significant difference on snow, was that the 827Si was front wheel drive was it not? I seem to recall that it was a lot lighter than the Lexus (maybe 75% of the weight) but (I'm guessing) with a much bigger proportion of the weight over the driving axle? Altogether a much better package on snow . . . . :)

That's interesting. Were there any limitations on use if you had to use different tyre sizes on the same axle following e.g. a puncture?

When I owned an IS250 the front and rear tyres were of different widths, so could only get it right for one of them (unless willing to carry two spares . . . . . ). There is a low probability of needing the spare, so I would leave well alone.

Much narrower tyres and a lot less torque and horsepower than now?